With 130,000 new cases recorded last week, the start of the flu epidemic in France is confirmed. The number of patients is expected to increase this week and throughout January.
If you stay in Champagne-Ardennes, Nord-Pas de Calais or Poitou-Charentes, you may end the year 2012 bedridden by the flu. According to doctors from Sentinels network, the flu epidemic has just started in mainland France and these 3 regions are currently the most affected. Last week, new cases of influenza-like illness seen in consultation by general practitioners were estimated at 204 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, or 130,000 new cases in one week. The flu has therefore crossed the epidemic threshold of 174 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. No hospitalization has been reported, it is for the moment flu without sign of seriousness.
To avoid catching the flu, contact with other sick people should be avoided and hand hygiene should be reinforced. Washing your hands as often as possible with soap and water effectively reduces the risk of person-to-person transmission of the virus.
If it is too late and you are already feeling the first symptoms (feverish state, body aches), avoid being in contact with fragile people such as the elderly, infants, pregnant women or people suffering from respiratory diseases. or cardiac. Patients are also recommended to cover their mouth and nose with each sneeze, to blow their nose in disposable tissues and to do more hand washing.
Finally, if you are one of the many French people who do not consult their doctor when they experience flu-like symptoms, you can directly contribute to the monitoring of the epidemic thanks to the site Grippenet. Put online at the start of 2012 by Inserm, the Pierre et Marie Curie University and the Institute for Public Health Surveillance, this new vigilance system should make it possible to monitor influenza in real time directly with patients.
